IPS 2025 Strategic Plan

Andrew Strope, Chief Strategy and Planning Officer

August, 2020

Objectives

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Review IPS 2025 Strategic Planning Process

Present the Values, Priorities and 20-21 Initiatives to the Board for adoption

A strong strategic plan ensures we focus limited resources on the most important work

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Strong strategic plans position organizations to deliberately pursue their goals and ensure limited resources are not wasted.

Why are strategic plans important?

• They clearly define the impact school districts intend to achieve and the efforts they believe are most likely to achieve them.

• They help organizations narrow and sequence.

• They align and channel limited resources (people, time and money) into fulfilling a focused set of activities.

• They enable reflection and continuous improvement.

4 Process

This strategic plan will guide the district’s focus for the next five years

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Over the past few years, IPS’ prior strategy expired and the Board selected a new superintendent to lead the district forward.

The prior plan, adopted by the Board in March of 2015, guided its work from 2015–16 through 2017–18.

2021–252019–202015–18

In 2019, the Board selected Aleesia Johnson to become the new superintendent and the team developed an annual plan focused on 6 strategic priorities:

1. Student-Centered Teaching & Learning

2. High-Performing Team3. Racial Equity Mindset4. School-Centered Central Services5. Engaged Families, Team & Partners6. Sustainable Finances and

Operations

Attuned supported the district in shaping the annual plan.

Going forward, IPS has developed a multi-year strategic plan that builds upon the work Superintendent Johnson and the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) executed in SY19-20.

COVID has affected both the timeline and focus of our planning work

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Learning Loss

Researchers estimate that students nationally may retain 70% of their learning gains in reading and just 50% in math. (NWEA)

TraumaStudents and adults may experience fear, anxiety, stress, uncertainty, etc., through the course of new Covid cases, school closures, and changes to their daily routines. (CASEL)

Economic Hardship

More than 120,000 Marion County workers — a rate of 12.3% in June — filed for unemployment insurance benefits from March to June (IndyStar)

Given these exacerbated challenges, the current strategy plans deeply for SY20-21 and set the broad foundations for SYs22-25.

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Approach and Deliverables

Build the capacity and systems such that the ELT can lead IPS in implementing and progress monitoring its plan with excellence and rigor

Gather and analyze data to produce an organizational diagnostic, including:

● Performance analysis● Constituent perspectives

(e.g., surveys, interviews, focus groups, Town Halls)

● Instructional quality review (e.g., site visits and artifact reviews)

Facilitate meetings to analyze and respond to organizational diagnostic and define core elements of the strategic plan, including:● Values ● Strategic priorities ● 2020–21 implementation

plan ● Scorecard (Fall 2020)● 21-25 initiatives and

milestones

Implementation and Progress Monitoring

Strategic Planning

Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3

Organizational Diagnostic

Phase 1: The diagnostic integrated evidence from multiple channels

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• Analysis of state/interim assessment data and other related outcome metrics

• Select, deeper-dive analyses into areas of interest identified by district leaders

• On-site observation and analysis of 116 total classrooms across six schools representing an array of grade configurations, school models, student demographics and performance levels in January 2020

• Review of school and central office instructional artifacts (curriculum, instructional enabling systems, PD plans, etc.)

• Results of community survey from over 1660 respondents fielded in December 2019 and January 2020 including board members, 91 school leaders, 50 central office leaders, 879 teachers, 254 parents/guardians, six community partners, 374 staff members and six students*

• Notes from six town hall-style meetings convened in November 2019

• Results of strengths, gaps, opportunities and threats identified in activities with district leadership and the strategic planning community council

• Select interviews with district leaders in January and February 2020 (forthcoming)

Performance DataReview key organizational data to identify areas of strength, weakness and opportunity

Instructional Quality ReviewAssess quality and equity of specific instructional practices and structures

Constituent PerspectivesExtensive surveys and interviews with community, staff and others to collect perspectives on what to start, stop, continue

Phase 1: Identified a range of strengths and gaps across six main areas

Student Culture and Wellness

3A.1. District’s equity focus

1C.1. Lower grades SEL supports, environment

1A. Schoolwide structures and systems

1B. Classroom management

1C.2. Upper grades SEL supports, environment

2A. School safety

2B. Behavior management systems

2C. Exclusionary discipline

3A.2. Addressing students’ unique needs

Evidence is more positive than negative

Evidence is largely mixed

Evidence is more negative than positive

Curriculum, Instruction and

Achievement

1D.1. Four schools “beating the odds”

3B. HS completion, postsecondary

1A. Grade level rigor of student tasks

1B. Student engagement in instruction

1C. Curriculum quality, use

1D.2. Overall student achievement

2A, 2B. Racial achievement gaps

3A. Equity in college / career readiness

Family and Community

Partnerships

1A. Sense of pride, history

1B. Communications to families

3A, 3B. Parent / guardian involvement

2A. Enrollment trends

2B. Student retention rates

Adult Culture and Learning

1A. Teacher DEI attitudes

1B. DEI and SEL professional learning

2A. Growth mindset

4A. Staff dedication, resilience

2B. Professional development

3A. Staff perceptions of culture

3B. Staff-leadership relationships

3C. Consistency and change management

Talent Systems

1A. Staff diversity

2A. Staff retention

3A. Support and compensation

Finance and Operations

1A. Fiscal stability

2A. Alignment, internal communications

We set out to build a 2025 strategy that would leverage these strengths and address our greatest gaps.

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ELEMENT DEFINITION

Strategic Priorities The multi-year focus areas that respond to current strengths and opportunities and that, if implemented with excellence, will drive desired results

InitiativesThe system-wide, multi-year work streams aligned to a strategic priority, typically including both new endeavors and efforts to dramatically improve the quality, rigor and/or consistency of existing practices

Values The deeply ingrained principles that guide our organization’s actions and serve as its cultural cornerstones

Implementation and Progress Monitoring

Strategic Planning Organizational Diagnostic

Phase 2: Sharing three main components of the draft multiyear plan for review

Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3

We have benefited from the engagement of multiple constituent groups in drafting the plan

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School Board

Community At Large

Community Council

ELT

School Leaders

Functional Leaders

Engagement has included multiple surveys, townhalls, Principal and team meetings, School Board meetings, etc.

Our most recent conversation with the School Board was July 18th, 2020

Most recently, met with the Superintendent’s Parent and Community Advisory Council and our IPS 2025 Community Council

12 Values, Priorities, 20-21 Initiatives

Vision/Mission

● Vision

○ IPS is a family of excellent public schools in which every student has the opportunity to succeed and the power to create their own future

● Mission

○ IPS empowers and educates all students to think critically, creatively, and responsibly, to embrace diversity, and to pursue their dreams with purpose.

13 Revised in 2018

We have established 5 values to ground our work and support our culture

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Values Statements

Students First

We believe that students can achieve at their highest levels if we hold ourselves to an expectation of excellence and focus on students’ holistic needs, setting them up for lives of choice and purpose.

Racial Equity

We strive to build diverse, inclusive, and antiracist classrooms and teams, deploy our resources to ensure students and team members get the opportunities they need to succeed, and ensure our classrooms and work environments respect the dignity of all.

Continuous Improvement

We endeavor to get better and achieve more through hard work and continuous learning, both as individuals and as a system.

IntegrityWe hold ourselves to the highest possible standards of professionalism and service and communicate with candor and care.

CommunityWe treat each other with love and respect, work effectively across lines of difference, and continuously build the supportive, inclusive community within IPS that we desire for our city.

Recommendation

Given the dire need to focus, we have narrowed our strategic priorities from 6 to 4

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Strategic Priorities in the 19-20 Annual Plan

1. Student-Centered Teaching & Learning: Integrate social-emotional learning programs and align high-quality instructional, curricular, and assessment resources.

2. High Performing Team: Recruit and retain talent by developing staff and holding them accountable for implementation of IPS' shared vision of excellence.

3. Racial Equity Mindset: Strengthen and expand racial equity work to eliminate opportunity gaps and build capacity for team members to persistently interrupt and address institutional bias.

4. School-Centered Central Services: Design central services to transparently and effectively meet the needs of schools and families.

5. Engaged Families, Team & Partners: Engage families, team members, and the community in authentic and collaborative partnerships to improve student outcomes.

6. Sustainable Finances and Operations: Strengthen and expand efforts to equitably and efficiently allocate resources across school communities.

Strategic Priorities for the 2025 Strategic Plan

1. Increase Access to Rigorous Curriculum and InstructionSupport adults at all levels of the system to build safe, engaging, and socially and emotionally supportive learning environments for students that ensure access to high-quality curriculum and instruction.

2. Promote Racial EquityStrengthen and expand our work to eliminate opportunity gaps, align policies and talent decisions to IPS’ antiracism agenda, and build capacity for team members to persistently interrupt and address institutional bias.

3. Foster Authentic Engagement Equip and engage families, team members, and the community in authentic and inclusive partnerships.

4. Operate and Fund StrategicallyStrengthen the efficacy and equity of central office supports, services, and resource allocations.

Recommendation

Each priority has a number of related initiatives, but only 8 will begin next year

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SP1: Increase Access to Rigorous Curriculum and InstructionSupport adults at all levels of the system to build safe, engaging, and socially and emotionally supportive learning environments for students that ensure access to high-quality curriculum and instruction.

1.1 Support teachers and school leaders to advance the comprehensive literacy framework by implementing PK-12 English Language Arts curriculum with excellence and developing the collaborative structures and common resources needed for unit and lesson plan internalization and student work analysis.

1.5 Increase readiness for remote learning through a plan that addresses equity and access; technology-enabled platforms, software and content; use of time and support of teachers; and differentiation and progress monitoring.

SP2: Promote Racial EquityStrengthen and expand our work to eliminate opportunity gaps, align policies and talent decisions to IPS’ antiracism agenda, and build capacity for team members to persistently interrupt and address institutional bias.

2.1 Pass an IPS Racial Equity board policy and implement a related district-wide framework for racial equity and inclusion that includes desired outcomes and measures, aligns with other district frameworks and practices, and establishes district and school commitments to addressing current inequities and opportunity gaps.

2.2 Design and launch programming to support school improvement, with a particular focus on prioritizing people, time, and money to support the transformation of IPS' highest-need schools.

SP3: Foster Authentic Engagement Equip and engage families, team members, and the community in authentic and inclusive partnerships.

3.1 Improve and expand district systems to ensure clear, consistent, and transparent two-way engagement and to elevate family, community and alumni voice.

3.2 Strengthen family, community, staff, and partner engagement in every neighborhood to support our mission and vision.

SP4: Operate and Fund StrategicallyStrengthen the efficacy and equity of central office supports, services, and resource allocations.

4.1 Strengthen the district’s ability to advance its mission and vision through intentional school portfolio design decisions and execution across all school types.

4.3 Support the district’s remote learning plan with facility and operational solutions that ensure safety and efficiency.

Recommendation

17 Next Steps

Moving forward

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● IPS will work to finalize a scorecard by fall 2020 (additional Community Council Meeting in September)

● IPS will work to finalize 21-22 and beyond initiatives by Winter 2021

Next Steps

Roll Out ● “Soft Launch” today● Holding 2nd Annual State of the District on September 30th

○ Will use this setting to officially launch our plan, focusing on our values and priorities